Civ AI Survivor: Season Five

[Wyatan]

This does appear to be real. Maybe this happened when the observer civ was added. Mehmed's stone spot is missing the fish also.

Willem and Charlie also seem to be missing it (3S 4W of their capital), while Gilgamesh has it (in the preview page, the icon's missing but the fish graphics is there).

Another thing to check out: Asoka and Washington might be missing a scout each (can't see the "stack dots" on the screenshots, but I believe that if the scout was stacked with the worker, we'd see the scout unit, not the worker; so, unless they each sent both their scouts to the same tile...).

And last, since this is the Championship, might also want to check the "free warrior" situation: if some civs have it while some don't, add it to those missing it?

[Bobchillingworth]

Picking contest to determine what leaders Sullla is including in the All Star Game:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQ...A/viewform

This is hilarious 

This is the most serious I've ever been. Right now, Sitting Bull and Sitting Bull (again) are neck-in-neck for the lead!

If you're a Charlemange fan, now's time to get your vote in. Sullla is contractually obligated to consider including one of these options in the All Star Game.

Sounds like a lot of Bull to me

[civac2]

This does appear to be real. Maybe this happened when the observer civ was added. Mehmed's stone spot is missing the fish also.

Willem and Charlie also seem to be missing it (3S 4W of their capital), while Gilgamesh has it (in the preview page, the icon's missing but the fish graphics is there).

Another thing to check out: Asoka and Washington might be missing a scout each (can't see the "stack dots" on the screenshots, but I believe that if the scout was stacked with the worker, we'd see the scout unit, not the worker; so, unless they each sent both their scouts to the same tile...).

And last, since this is the Championship, might also want to check the "free warrior" situation: if some civs have it while some don't, add it to those missing it?

In the south you can see the that the resources indicators disappear when the their respective tile is partially obscured by the lower border of the main map window. That's why initially thought it might be a graphics issue only. But the northern resources really do need seem to be there.

[Wyatan]

In the south you can see the that the resources indicators disappear when the their respective tile is partially obscured by the lower border of the main map window. That's why initially thought it might be a graphics issue only. But the northern resources really do need seem to be there.

No, if you look at the screenshots from the written review, the ressource indicators are indeed hidden (eg for the Whales too), but for Gilgamesh, even though the tile is even more obscured, you can see that it's not empty. For Charlie and Willem, it's clearly empty.
Nicely spotted in the first place, anyway.

[Commodore]

So the non-aggressive All Stars And Monty game was interesting. Some observations:
-None of the all-stars are overrated, I think. Seeing all six next to doofy little Monty was illustrative.
-Stalin didn't have a good game, but I think Aggressive AI would have benefited him most of all. He still impressed me with how well he did against Mansa despite the massive tech disparity.
-Gandhi is probably right to be placed in the second string. He had no Aggressive AI set, and wasn't attacked for a long long while, but he nevertheless was very unimpressive even 1v1 before others joined in.
-My stereotype of Justinian as the master diplomat is confirmed. He's probably been hurt by the AP the most of all; he's excellent at spreading his faith and he makes strong allies, his brothers in faith were almost observer-level in love with him.
-Mansa is every bit as fragile as Gandhi, but by gum is he better at the building.
-Julius Caesar is a solid warmonger, but honestly what sets him apart from your Napoleons and Shakas is his *excellent* landgrabing. Aggressive AI screwed him in the real playoffs, setting him to plotting with two settlers already built. He just ends the landgrab so well set.

[Borsche]

Yeah Gandhi's teching wasn't anywhere near as good as it should've been, and it makes me think of Wyatan's replay of Season 4 Game 2 where Willem able to regularly smoke him, so long as the Mehmed war went fine. The difference between him and Mansa was self evident.

[Shimomo]

So the non-aggressive All Stars And Monty game was interesting. Some observations:
-None of the all-stars are overrated, I think. Seeing all six next to doofy little Monty was illustrative.
-Stalin didn't have a good game, but I think Aggressive AI would have benefited him most of all. He still impressed me with how well he did against Mansa despite the massive tech disparity.
-Gandhi is probably right to be placed in the second string. He had no Aggressive AI set, and wasn't attacked for a long long while, but he nevertheless was very unimpressive even 1v1 before others joined in.
-My stereotype of Justinian as the master diplomat is confirmed. He's probably been hurt by the AP the most of all; he's excellent at spreading his faith and he makes strong allies, his brothers in faith were almost observer-level in love with him.
-Mansa is every bit as fragile as Gandhi, but by gum is he better at the building.
-Julius Caesar is a solid warmonger, but honestly what sets him apart from your Napoleons and Shakas is his *excellent* landgrabing. Aggressive AI screwed him in the real playoffs, setting him to plotting with two settlers already built. He just ends the landgrab so well set.

I agree with pretty much everything here. I think Stalin would have been helped by aggai producing a couple more early wars against Mansa by someone else. Justinian as a diplomat makes sense to me: I've never been amazed by his expansion, teching, or warmongering, but his diplo is on point. 

With JC I think the replays show he would have won or placed most of the time. His problem in the playoff game was a mysteriously poor landgrab and seemed to happen even before he kicked into war mode and stopped his settlers. But yeah if he'd settled at least those two as well he would have done a bit better.

[Sullla]

I'll see what I can do about fixing whatever flawed mirrored aspects exist in the map before Friday's game. In addition, community predictions have been added to the Season Five Championship preview page: http://www.sullla.com/Civ4/civ4survivor5...eview.html






Willem is the favorite which means that he's probably doomed in some bizarre fashion.

ZincAlloy: Following the patterns from the rest of this season, it becomes clear that the outcome for the championships will be the worst resolution possible. And that's Charlemagne first, Washington second. Neither of them deserve it, nobody wants it, but that's what we're getting. Willem and Gilgamesh will spend the match in a mutually destructive war, leaving the game wide open for Asoka to throw away so that Charlemagne can get the win. Sigh.

hasuprotoss: Somehow Washington pulls it out of the hat. I don't know how. I don't know why. It's 2020, let's get weird.

Ethan: The map's symmetry makes it hard for any one leader to get an edge on another r. Willem should be the fastest techer; last year on this map he made it the Industrial Age before falling victim to warmonger Kublai after not researching rifling. Kublai is a better warmonger than any of the other leaders in this game, so I don't see anyone stopping Willem in Willem's slow road to space. The most likely scenario in my mind is a series of 1v1s that get stalemated until the advent of artillery. Charlemagne should be the best expander, so his territory will give him an edge over the other non-financial leaders in the battle for second. Mehmed is the most likely to declare a dumb war and I have him as being a (relatively late-game) First to Die. Of course I'll probably get every single leader wrong and nail the victory date, number of wars, and victory condition, just like Playoff Game 2.

SpamBot: Asoka to win. The only one in this game aggresive enough to put him in into the ground is Gilgamesh, and I have a feeling that Charlemagne will take care of him. This along with Washington securing his flank means that Asoka is likely to get away with doing what he does best.

Bobchillingworth: I think this will ultimately turn out to be a fairly peaceful game. Mehmed is an imbecile and will get himself eliminated after declaring too many fruitless wars, and Gilgamesh and Wilhem could well end up dueling each other over Creative-induced border overlap. I actually particularly like Charlie and Washington here; they're boring, forgettable leaders, but both are excellent at expanding and competent at economic development. I'd favor Wilhem, but I'm not sure anyone will be inclined to let him tech away in peace.

Max: Two Good leaders, two Evil leaders, and two Neutral leaders in this game - what a variety! It's likely that Washington / Asoka will be fighting Gilgamesh / Mehmed this game, but also, the Washington / Asoka axis is easier to break due to religious differences, whereas Gilgamesh / Mehmed will likely get mutual military struggle and stay buddies. However, whilst this is going on, Willem will tech in safety, and Charlemagne will out-settle the rest of the pack. Looking forward to see this one play out!

Eauxps I. Fourgott: After the undeserving and underwhelming Mehmed dies first due to being sandwiched between high peaceweight leaders, Gilgamesh dies due to diplomatic isolation, and Asoka is eventually overwhelmed due to being the lone heathen outside of a religious bloc, the remaining leaders will mostly be friendly with each other. The picking contest's favorite of Willem will take advantage of this to build up to a clearly winning position with his economy, and be poised to win a Space Race victory with his economic edge, only to continue the Championship tradition of having the win sniped away by a leader with a weaker empire. The method by which this win is sniped? A victory condition that has never before appeared in the championship. Diplomatic. The actual winner? The most out-of-nowhere champion that AI Survivor will ever have, a man who had zero power points prior to this season. Washington. The leader who casts the winning vote in the UN? One whose impact has previously been felt on the championship, the student of Wang Kon, the great bane of the picking contest. Charlemagne.

dreamyeyed: If there ever was a game where picking "none" for First to Die made any sense, it would be this one. Identical starts means there will be no easy targets and the leaders are also so peaceful that they may not want to fight anyway. But I still think that there will be a few short and useless wars followed by several sloooooooooow conquests. This is all good news for Willem who can finally safely ignore Rifling without any consequences. He has been given another chance to defeat Charlemagne in the championship and I'm sure he'll do better this time without any warmongers around.

Queenest Cassiest: I believe in Washington. He's going to hide quietly tiding away, while Gilgamesh and Mehmed duke it out, and Asoka and Willem clash. Charlamagne will also do this, but because he sucks more Washington will win Spaceship by default. Or he'll die. But I believe.

Duizhang_Lu: This championship is a hippiefest, and not even of the interesting ones. Well, considering the low likelihood of Wilhelm dying to a warmonger who calls his disinterest in defending himself, I bet he'll tech himself to space in peace.

JackDRB: These are our championship contenders? Really? This is roughly as weak, maybe even weaker than last seasons championship! Thankfully the pool of leaders we have will be pretty interesting blend in the context of this game. For the winner, I'm going with Willem, since he has the clearest and most defined route to victory, and is, in my opinion, the strongest peaceful leader of the bunch here. Gilgamesh (well, Mehmed too, but I think he'll struggle a la Stalin last year with his chronic lack of culture) may throw a wrench in my plan, but I'm just gonna cross my fingers and conviently ignore Willem's incompetence, and hope he blasts off into space with a scientific tour-de-force. He also, as a small bonus, has two starting worker techs that directly improve the land (aside from Washington), all others are saddled with either The Wheel or Mysticism. Second place has to be Charlemagne. I have no idea how he will achieve this, I have no idea what other leaders actions will contribute to this happening, but he has finished well too many times to snub him once again, despite what personal feelings may dictate. He really is the rat, or cockroach, of AI survivor. Noone really wants to see him, and yet he still hangs around time and time again. First to die is Washington, maybe? I think he's the weakest in a weak bunch, which is no mean feat.

luddite: No real read on this game, I just believe in the power of financial (Willem)

SaucerCrab: This is half rooting for him and half legitimately believing with him having a corner spot and Asuka next to him that Washington can pull off "quietly build up without getting anyone mad and then running over people" again.

BohemianSpoonyBard:


dankok8: High PW Asoka and Washington will get ganged up on and die. Willem will get some of the spoils and survive and he's by far the best leader in this game economically. Charlie and Mehmed don't declare at Pleased so the only one who can really threaten him is Gilga. And I think it's likely that Charlie will spread his religion to both Willem and Gilga because all of them are below the jungle belt. I think there will be a period of relative isolation early on between north and south.

Slashin': I'm picking King Ashoka and Charlemagne as they are some of my personal favorites and a high peaceweight champion would be a nice of pace, unlikely as it may be. Perhaps Asoka founds a religion and spreads it to Mehmed, while Charlemagne grabs the other one and does what he does best: wait for others to implode and become the runner up. Or perhaps Charlemagne wins the whole thing and we no longer have any more ai survivors from Sullla. In any case, what an odd array of leaders in the final round, to serve as a testament to this unpredictable yet interesting year!

eyser24: I am choosing Willem to win this. In the opening round game, I totally wrote him off and completely underestimated him. His dominant victory really surprised me and made me realize he was a serious player. In the playoff game, the fact that he was able to recover even after losing his capital was insanely impressive, and something we rarely see. I started out this season thinking Willem was incompetent. In this game I not only think he is the best choice, but I am really rooting for him to redeem himself from last season. For second place it was a tough choice between Gilgamesh and Charlemagne. Gilgamesh needs to make headway in a conquest to be strong, and I think in every game so far this season his attempts at conquest have been quite poor. He could not take out Lincoln in the opening round, and his attacks on Genghis and Hannibal were slow and ineffective, and these were AIs that were way weaker than him! He is a good AI but just not effective enough at war even with a significant advantage. Charlemagne is really good at surviving, taking out a neighbor or two, and becoming strong. He is not the best or flashiest AI, but I think he belongs in pool two for sure and will once again prove his general competence this game. As for the others, I could see Mehmed taking out a neighbor and ballooning, but I think its more likely he will do nothing. Washington will expand well and tech slower than Willem, and be wiped out by Charlemagne or Gilgamesh. The same fate awaits Asoka. Lastly, I want to thank you for holding another season, and for all the work you do to set this up. These games are just so much fun and I love watching and reading your write-ups, and this was the first year I got to watch every game live and do the contest which made games even more exciting. Thanks again for such a great season!

Season Five Championship Picking Contest Entry Form

[Brian Shanahan]

My picks are in. Charlemagne's the Dude and the Dude abides. So who else are you going to pick?

[Cyneheard]

My picks are in.  Charlemagne's the Dude and the Dude abides.  So who else are you going to pick?

Since I haven't submitted picks all season, and I know that the favorites have tended to fail spectacularly, time for Mehmed to do his thing??????

 may have been involved with this decision making.